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Back on My Feet helps homeless through running

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The Indy chapter of Back on My Feet organizes runs for the homeless.

It’s through those runs that people like Vincent Bibbs are having their lives completely changed for the better.

Life circumstances, including getting laid off from his job, left Vincent Bibbs without a place to call home.

“I worked for the Chicago Public School systems and I was at one of the 50 schools that was closed,” he said.

His life changed one day at the Wheeler Mission when he discovered Back on My Feet.

“Went to the orientation and it’s been uphill from there, the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

It’s a non-profit that gets homeless men and women running alongside volunteers.

“Building up our members feeling of self-worth and they feel good about themselves,” Liz Navarre from Back on My Feet said.

“When we circle up in that circle, you don’t know who the volunteer or who’s homeless,” he said.

Through the runs, the homeless men and women can earn their spot in programs to get them back into the work force.

“They commit to coming out three days a week at 5:45 in the morning and maintain a 90 percent attendance,” she said.

“They can get into the resume building workshops, the job trainings,” she said.

“They make sure we stay accountable, they make us accountable for what we say we’re going to do, you can’t sign up for a race and don’t do it,” he said.

Bibbs is proud to be one of their success stories.

“I wound up at school 60, my supervisor actually knows the owner of this building where we’re at now,” he said.

“Got a job, got an apartment right across the street,” he said.

And he’s also started competing in races and has the medals to prove it.

“No matter what you go through in life, if you stay focused and stay positive, great things are bound to happen,” he said.

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